Nihilism Quotes - Page 2

• The negative always wins at last, but I like it none the better for that.

  Mason Cooley

  Winning, Negative, Lasts

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• Suffering is a byproduct of evolution by natural selection, an inevitable consequence that may worry us in our more sympathetic moments but cannot be expected to worry a tiger - even if a tiger can be said to worry about anything at all - and certainly cannot be expected to worry its genes.

  Richard Dawkins

  Worry, Suffering, May

  Richard Dawkins (2009). “The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution”, p.392, Simon and Schuster

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• Like other lifeforms, we [humans] exist only to replicate ourselves.

  George Monbiot

  Humans, Replicate

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• Nihilism is not an existential quandary but a speculative opportunity.

  Ray Brassier

  Opportunity, Existential

  Ray Brassier (2007). “Nihil Unbound: Naturalism and Anti-Phenomenological Realism”, Palgrave Macmillan

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• If all men lead mechanical, unpoetical lives, this is the real nihilism, the real undoing of the world.

  Reginald Horace Blyth

  Life, Real, Men

  Reginald Horace Blyth (1960). “Zen and Zen Classics”

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• No system has ever as yet existed which did not in some form involve the exploitation of some human beings for the advantage of others.

  John Dewey

  Advantage, Form, Exploitation

  John Dewey (2015). “Human Nature and Conduct: Human Understanding”, p.58, 谷月社

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• Belief and seeing are both often wrong.

  Robert McNamara

  Belief, Seeing

  Robert S. McNamara (2004). “Official Teacher's Guide for The Fog of War: An Errol Morris Film”

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• To think is to say 'no.'

  Emile Chartier

  Thinking, Human Condition

  "The Citizen against the Powers". Book by Emile Chartier, 1926.

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• Though nihilism has been relentlessly criticized for overemphasizing the dark side of human experience, it might be equally true that this overemphasis represents a needed counterbalance to shallow optimism and arrogant confidence in human power. Nihilism reminds us that we are not gods, and that despite all of the accomplishments and wonders of civilization, humans cannot alter the fact that they possess only a finite amount of mastery and control over their own destinies.

  John Marmysz

  Dark, Destiny, Civilization

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• One cannot be a part-time nihilist.

  Albert Camus

  Nihilist, Part Time

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• All roads are blocked to a philosophy which reduces everything to the word "no." To "no" there is only one answer and that is "yes." Nihilism has no substance. There is no such thing as nothingness, and zero does not exist. Everything is something. Nothing is nothing. Man lives more by affirmation than by bread.

  Victor Hugo

  Zero, Philosophy, Men

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• Free men are aware of the imperfection inherent in human affairs, and they are willing to fight and die for that which is not perfect. They know that basic human problems can have no final solutions, that our freedom, justice, equality, etc. are far from absolute, and that the good life is compounded of half measures, compromises, lesser evils, and gropings toward the perfect. The rejection of approximations and the insistence on absolutes are the manifestation of a nihilism that loathes freedom, tolerance, and equity.

  Eric Hoffer

  Good Life, Fighting, Men

  "The Temper of Our Time". Book by Eric Hoffer, 1967.

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• And we should consider every day lost on which we have not danced at least once. And we should call every truth false which was not accompanied by at least one laugh.

  Friedrich Nietzsche

  Happiness, Laughter, Truth

  Friedrich Nietzsche (1977). “The Portable Nietzsche”, p.198, Penguin

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• Courage is impulsive; it is narcissism tempered with nihilism.

  Ayelet Waldman

  Narcissism, Impulsive

  Ayelet Waldman (2006). “Love and Other Impossible Pursuits”, Doubleday Books

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• Habit: A shackle for the free.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Habit, Shackles

  Ambrose Bierce (2009). “The Devil's Dictionary: Easyread Super Large 20pt Edition”, p.157, ReadHowYouWant.com

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• Show me a population that is deeply religious and I will show you a servile population, content with whips and chains, ... content to eat the bread of sorrow and drink the waters of affliction.

  Hubert Harrison

  Religious, Water, Sorrow

  Hubert Harrison, Jeffrey B. Perry (2001). “A Hubert Harrison Reader”, p.44, Wesleyan University Press

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• Nihilism is best done by professionals.

  Iggy Pop

  Done

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• Technology is not an image of the world but a way of operating on reality. The nihilism of technology lies not only in the fact that it is the most perfect expression of the will to power... but also in the fact that it lacks meaning.

  Octavio Paz

  Lying, Power, Technology

  1967 Alternating Current.

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• Maybe those nihilist philosophers are right; maybe this is all we can expect of the universe, a relentless crushing of life and spirit, because the equilibrium state of the cosmos is death.

  Unknown

  Crush, Spirit, Philosopher

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• [S]ince there is no wrong or right, you just reap what you sow.

  Peter Murphy

  Wrong Or Right, Reap

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• Famously, there's not really anywhere to go after nihilism. It's not progressing toward anything, it's a statement of outrage, however brilliant.

  Alan Moore

  Progress, Brilliant, Outrage

  "Alan Moore Takes League of Extraordinary Gentlemen to the ’60s". Interview with Scott Thill, www.wired.com. July 21, 2011.

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• Those are my enemies: they want to overthrow and to construct nothing themselves. They say: "All that is worthless"--and want to create no value themselves.

  Friedrich Nietzsche

  Enemy, Want, Constructs

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• Science keeps religion from sinking into the valley of crippling irrationalism and paralyzing obscurantism. Religion prevents science from falling into the marsh of obsolete materialism and moral nihilism.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Fall, Valleys, Moral

  Martin Luther King Jr. (1963). “Strength to Love”

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• The powerful feed ideology to the masses like fast food while they dine on that most rarefied delicacy: impunity.

  Naomi Klein

  Powerful, Delicacy, Fast Food

  "It's greed, not ideology, that rules the White House" by Naomi Klein, www.theguardian.com. December 22, 2003.

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• Lack of originality, everywhere, all over the world, from time immemorial, has always been considered the foremost quality and the recommendation of the active, efficient and practical man.

  Fyodor Dostoevsky

  Men, Quality, World

  Fyodor Dostoevsky (2012). “The Idiot (Vintage Classics)”, p.326, Vintage

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